Ukraine
Ukraine's costly return to gas imports
Russian attacks against Ukraine’s natural gas production facilities have precipitated yet another energy security crisis for the beleaguered country.
UKRAINE REMONT: The battle to build: signs of recovery in Ukraine's construction industry
Ukraine’s construction industry is resilient as it gears up for the restoration of the country’s decimated housing and infrastructure. But the sector has a mountain to climb as it contends with ongoing war and shortages of material and labour.
Kremlin envoy Dmitriev says “significant progress” made in talks during Washington trip
Russia and the US have made significant progress in discussing a settlement of the conflict in Ukraine, Russian Direct Investment Fund CEO and Special Envoy Kirill Dmitriev said during a visit to Washington on April 3.
Russia, Cuba, Belarus and North Korea exempted from tariffs as already sanctioned
US President Donald Trump dropped a tariffs bomb on the whole world on “Liberation Day” by imposing sanctions on every country the US trades with – with a very few notable exceptions: Russia, Cuba, Belarus and North Korea.
Trump threatens extreme secondary sanctions on countries dealing with Russia if Putin doesn’t do ceasefire deal
President Donald Trump has thrown his weight behind a sweeping bipartisan bill that could impose 500% secondary tariffs on buyers of Russian oil if Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn’t do a ceasefire deal with Ukraine.
COMMENT: EU’s foreign policy chief Kallas’ releases a white paper on European Defence sector plans
EU foreign policy chief and former Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas recently unveiled a controversial White Paper on the “Future of European Defence: Readiness 2030”, but it received a very mixed reception from EU member states.
INTERVIEW: "It's risky to invest in Ukraine now. But it's more risky not to invest" – AmCham Ukraine
An interview with the president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine
Putin’s upcoming India visit indicates deeper ties despite global shifts
Russian President Vladimir Putin is poised to visit India in the near future, marking his first trip to the South Asian nation since December 2021
What exactly is Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s vision for the transactional multipolar world?
Did Russian President Vladimir Putin just endorse US President Donald Trump’s plan to annex Greenland? And what exactly is Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s vision for a multipolar world?
US Defence Secretary Hegseth downgrades Russian threat, focus exclusively on Taiwan in new foreign policy strategy
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has reoriented the US military to prioritise deterring China’s seizure of Taiwan and shoring up homeland defence, but has downgraded Russia to a second tier, along with several other potential enemies.
Russia close to withdrawing from the 30-day ceasefire deal – Peskov
Russia is close to withdrawing from the 30-day ceasefire deal struck last week, accusing Ukraine of breaking the agreement, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a radio interview with Ria Novosti on March 29.
Trump's promises of Russian sanctions relief are easier said than done
Friedrich Nietzsche said: “what doesn’t kill me makes me stronger,” and Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly insisted that Western sanctions have only strengthened Russia’s economy. But he still wants to get them lifted.
Trump and Carthage: The end of history revisited
What has gone wrong with the world? Protests and wars have broken out across the globe. Analysts are warning that weak countries could face problems but the strong ones are suffering from a deeper long term rot that will change the world order.
EU holds trump card in Rosselkhozbank sanctions delisting
The EU's jurisdiction over the SWIFT messaging service is a major obstacle to US-Russian proposals to lift sanctions on Russia’s Rosselkhozbank, according to Yuliia Pavytska, head of the sanctions programme at the KSE Institute.
COMMENT: Europe’s outlook improves as Trump makes Ukraine conflct progress
European leaders are alarmed at the increasingly warm relations between US President Trump and Putin, but economists are encouraged as even a “quick and dirty” ceasefire deal to the Ukraine conflict will buoy flagging CEE economies.
Hungary opposes Ukraine's EU accession due to unclear borders, says cabinet chief
The head of the Hungarian Prime Minister's Office described the push for Ukraine's fast-track EU membership as "absurd," citing unresolved issues in agriculture, labour markets and cohesion, but also due to its unclear borders.
US sends Kyiv an even harsher fourth version of the mineral deal
A new draft of the proposed US-Ukraine minerals deal has drawn criticism in Kyiv as the new demands are even harsher than the previous three versions.
EU Paris summit breaks up with little achieved, highlighting Europe’s increasing irrelevance in Ukraine conflict
The latest EU emergency meeting in Paris broke up again with little decided, significant backtracking on earlier commitments to sending peacekeepers to Ukraine and Europe’s increasing irrelevance to Ukraine’s fate in its conflict with Russia.
Ukraine and Balkans ravaged by wildfires in 2024
Wildfires ravaged large swathes of land across Ukraine and the Balkans, with Ukraine suffering the highest recorded damage of any country in the region, said the EU's European Forest Fire Information System.
Europe pulls back from peacekeeper plans as unworkable
European countries are struggling to establish a some sort of security framework for Ukraine to prevent a second invasion should a ceasefire be agreed.